27 Aug (NucNet): Areva is to invest a further 20 million euro (30 million US dollars) to improve environmental and health monitoring at its Tricastin site in southern France, following an incident last month, and to “settle the balance of its industrial legacy”.
Areva said today it would modernise the entire Tricastin site and that dedicated environmental monitoring teams would be redeployed and strengthened “with more analysis points on and around the site to provide a clearer image of the water table”.
In addition, Areva said it would deploy “concrete solutions for the long-term management of the environmental liabilities it has taken control of from other industries in the past”.
The company said it is studying a proposal to transfer some waste material from the French atomic energy commission (CEA) that is stored in a hill at the site to a “certified centre”. Areva said this was “despite the evidence from studies that the hill is stable and causes no environmental impact or health risk for people”.
The announcement follows an incident last month when a tank used to store diluted natural uranium at the Socatri uranium recovery and cleanup facility at Tricastin was being emptied in preparation for shutdown of the effluent storage facility. This facility is due to be replaced by a new treatment station costing 13 million euro.
Following the incident, some 30 cubic metres of a solution containing 12 grams of natural uranium per litre flowed onto the floor at the facility and into the drainage system. The solution contained a total of about 360 kilograms of natural uranium, but Areva said only 74 kilograms were released into the environment. The French nuclear safety authority (ASN) classified the event as level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).
On 29 July, Areva opened a complaints register at town halls in the area with the aim of compensating anyone affected by the incident. Areva said today that first compensation payments were made on 12 August and that nearly 130 cases from individuals and businesses have been dealt with to date.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Safety Inspectors at French Site After Release Of Natural Uranium Solution (News No. 54, 10 July 2008)
‘Special Surveillance’ To Continue At France’s Tricastin Site (World Nuclear Review No. 26, 11 July 2008)
Areva Says There Was ‘Lack of Coordination’ At Tricastin Site (World Nuclear Review No. 27, 18 July 2008)
